NEWSWORTHY
Japan IR Expo opens in Osaka as candidates step up efforts to win integrated casino resort licenses
With the cities of Osaka and Wakayama stepping up their efforts to win a legalized integrated casino resort, the Japan IR Expo opened Wednesday in Osaka. The two-day event was attended by six international casino operators, including MGM Resorts Japan LLC, Melco Resorts & Entertainment ...
JR Hokkaido confronts the harsh realities of financing rail lines in depopulated areas
Privatization of public enterprises is a core tenet of neoliberalism, and probably the most representative domestic development in this regard was the privatization of Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1987. The resulting rail companies, distinguished primarily by region, have demonstrated differing degrees of success. ...
'Trails': Blood spatters across an empty field of snow
After a decade of visits to annual deer culls in Hokkaido's Shiretoko National Park, photographer Takashi Homma has recently released a photo book, "Trails," about the project.
Tomoko Keira's 'The Spirit of Huci': A year of living with an Ainu elder — review
One part Ainu cookbook and three parts a cultural record of Ainu values and beliefs, Tomoko Keira's "The Spirit of Huci" offers, for the first time, the voices of Ainu women in English.
'The Forest of Wool and Steel': Music and nature intertwine to paint a portrait of growth — review
Natsu Miyashita's "The Forest of Wool and Steel" is a mesmerizing reading experience, a slow journey in how one young person renders an occupation into a vocation.
Launch of private Momo-3 rocket delayed again, this time due to strong wind at Hokkaido site
Aerospace startup Interstellar Technology Inc. said it postponed the planned launch of a small rocket on Thursday due to strong wind. The unmanned Momo-3 was originally scheduled to blast off on Tuesday, but that was thwarted by a fuel-system glitch. Interstellar Technology said the launch from ...
Hokkaido’s ethnic minority will get a promotional boost, but not the rights to education and self-determination spelled out in the U.N’s 2007 declaration on indigenous people.
Abe has abandoned June timeline for Japan-Russia peace treaty, says source
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has given up on reaching a broad agreement on a Japan-Russia peace treaty when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June amid persisting differences over how to settle a long-standing territorial dispute, a government source said Thursday. Instead, the ...
Life-size skeletal replica of Japan's largest dinosaur restored
What is believed to be Japan's largest fossilized dinosaur skeleton has been restored as a life-size replica, researchers and officials from the town of Mukawa, in Hokkaido, where the original discovery was made, said Wednesday. The replica of the 8-meter-long and 4-meter-tall plant-eating Hadrosaurid, dubbed ...
Hokkaido Museum surveying disputed Russian-held isles in bid to save Japanese artifacts
The Hokkaido Museum in Sapporo has been surveying historical artifacts on the four Russian-held isles claimed by Japan through a bilateral arrangement that lets Japanese former residents make visa-free visits. Hiroshi Ushiro, the chief curator, used the program to make visits from 2005 through 2018 ...
With opposition fractured, LDP bags over half of prefectural seats in first leg of polls
The results show that support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s party remains firm ahead of the Upper House election set for this summer.
Despite divisions, LDP scores key win as Japan votes in nationwide polls
By winning the key Hokkaido gubernatorial election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party gets off to a good start as it heads toward this summer’s Upper House election.
